Page 86 of Fighting for Brielle
Brendan fired a round of bullets; two pierced her left leg.
The electrical shocks continued, and her heart fluttered in her chest. Trey lifted his gun, took aim, and fired. The bullets tore into her abdomen.
Tears streamed down her face. Blood pooled beneath her body. And then she heard Trey’s gentle voice in her head.
“Don’t be afraid, Bri. This is just a computer program. None of it’s real. You can kill us. You’vegotto kill us. You don’t have a choice if you want to live.”
“Not real,” she muttered. “Not real.”
Summoning her strength, she reached for her gun. Her brothers fired at once. She returned fire, putting a bullet dead center in their foreheads. Seeing those round holes blossoming with blood as her brothers dropped dead caused her stomach to roll, and she gagged.
“I can’t do this!” Brielle sobbed. “Please don’t make me do this!”
In the next scenario Cameron was trapped in the car with her, too, as it sank beneath the freezing dark water. As soon as Brielle tried to free him from the seat belt, she was electrocuted. Fighting through the pain, she yanked and pulled but could not release it. Quickly, she kicked out the backseat, found the lug wrench and again attacked the seat belt buckle while bolts of electricity caused unbelievable agony in her body. It was no use. She couldn’t free her father.
Tears blurred her vision. Helplessly, she gazed into Cameron’s beloved face filled with sorrow and love. He pointed toward the surface of the murky water. She shook her head and tried again to save him. Only when she realized he’d drowned, did she pop the trunk and escape, nearly drowning herself.
Wracked with pain and guilt, Brielle suffered even more when she was forced to abandon her sister Brooke in the burning building and then kill her three Stone brothers-in-law?Nick, and twins Michael and Matthew.
But the worst part of her ordeal wasn’t over yet. When she saw Justice trapped in the vault with her, she screamed, “No! No! This isn’t happening!”
They both started to choke on the white cloud of gas pouring through a vent.
Justice grabbed her arm. “Solve the puzzle, Bri!”
It was far more difficult this time. Brielle couldn’t think. Her hands shook. When she begged Justice to help her, another round of electrical currents stunned her. She felt her heart stop a moment before it resumed beating.
“Bri…hurry!” Justice urged.
His voice sounded faint.
It took three more minutes of precious time to solve the puzzle, but by that time Justice had passed out.
“Justice!”
In spite of the punishment she would incur for saving Justice, she refused to leave him to die in that gas-saturated vault.
“Wake up!” she screamed. “Wake up! We have to get out of here!”
Justice roused and stumbled to his feet. Brielle wrapped her arm around his waist and led him to the escape hatch. They both made it out as incredible bursts of pain tore cries from Brielle’s raw throat. She’d succeeded! She’d succeeded in saving the one person who mattered the most to her.
Just as he leaned down to embrace her, Justice disappeared. Darkness descended.
She fell to the floor. She seized. Froth formed at her mouth, and she vomited.
Dr. Schow joined her and turned her on her side so she wouldn’t choke on her vomit before she lost consciousness.
* * *
Horrified by what he’d just witnessed, by the sight of Brielle seizing and vomiting, Carson rushed into the virtual reality room.
“Jesus, Axel!” he exclaimed. “What the hell did you do to her?”
“My wife was right. She needed to be put in her proper place,” Anderson answered, his voice cold and hard.
Dr. Schow studied the heart monitor. “Her pulse is fast, and her heart is racing at one hundred and seventy beats per minute.”
“She needs to go to the infirmary,” Carson declared.
